The Canada Bereft statue – also known as Mother Canada – at the Vimy Ridge memorial in France was modeled after the aunt of an Edmonton woman.
Rosemarie Biggs told CTV News her aunt Edna Jennings responded to an ad when she became a model while she lived in England.
“[Walter Allward] wanted someone who was broad across the shoulders,” Biggs said. “Sure enough, her shoulders were broad enough, so she got the job to be a model for him. Mother Canada has a big burden to carry, so he wanted to have the big shoulders to depict that.”
Do you see the resemblance between Edna Jennings and Canada Bereft? Edna's niece tells us how her aunt got the gig. #Vimy100 #yeg pic.twitter.com/3F54YKPvTT
— Angela Jung (@AngelaJungCTV) April 9, 2017
Biggs said she can see the resemblance between Mother Canada and her aunt, and she got to see the monument up close in person.
“It’s one thing knowing about it and seeing a picture of it like that, and it’s another thing when you actually go there and stand there and you see this huge statue and it’s auntie Edna,” Biggs said.
The monument was unveiled in 1936, and Jennings got to finally visit it in her later years. She died when she was 97.
“She was overwhelmed to see this huge statue that she had helped to create,” Biggs said. “It is one thing to know about it, but to see it in real life, she was totally overwhelmed.”
With files from Angela Jung
